See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320622457 Rich freshwater rotifer fauna of small lentic ecosystems of south Andaman, Andaman Sea, India (Rotifera: Eurotatoria) Article · November 2017 DOI: 10.18348/opzool.2017.2.ZYZ CITATIONS READS 0 29 3 authors, including: B K Sharma North Eastern Hill University 84 PUBLICATIONS 852 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects: (A) Biodiversity, distribution and ecosystem diversity of Rotifera and Cladocera of India. (B) Zooplankton diversity and ecology in floodplain lakes of India View project All content following this page was uploaded by B K Sharma on 13 November 2017. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. Opusc. Zool. Budapest, 2017, 48(2): 185–192 Rich freshwater rotifer fauna of small lentic ecosystems of south Andaman, Andaman Sea, India (Rotifera: Eurotatoria) 1* 2 1 B. K. SHARMA , C. RAGHUNATHAN , S. SHARMA 1Bhushan Kumar Sharma & Sumita Sharma, Freshwater Biology Laboratory, Department of Zoology, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong-793022, Meghalaya. E-mails: [email protected]*, [email protected], *Corresponding author 2Chelladurai Raghunathan, Andaman & Nicobar Regional Station, Zoological Survey of India, Port Blair, Andaman & Nicobar. E-mail: [email protected] Abstract. Small lentic ecosystems are hypothesized to be interesting habitats for metazoan diversity. This study is undertaken to document Rotifera of small freshwater bodies of south Andaman, India. A total of 112 species (S), belonging to 32 genera and 19 families, recorded in our intensive February 2017 collections, indicate rich and diverse assemblage of the taxon. Total richness comprises ~ 27 % of the rotifer species known from India and thus affirms biodiversity interest and habitat diversity of the sampled habitats. This report adds 42 species, seven genera and three families to the taxa reported till date from freshwaters of the Andaman and Nicorbar islands. Rotifera meta-analysis indicates distinct increase in richness of Lecanidae > Brachionidae > Trichocercidae and two-fold increase in Brachionus species. The biogeographically interesting elements comprise 8.0 % of S and several species indicate regional distribution importance. The rotifer fauna shows high richness of cosmopolitan species (~68% of S) and a number of tropical and subtropical species (~22 % of S). The present study highlights distinct scope to augment Rotifera diversity of the Andaman and Nicorbar islands freshwaters vis-à-vis intensive sampling of varied habitats. Keywords. Composition, insular freshwaters, new records, species richness. INTRODUCTION composition, richness, new reports, interesting taxa. The results provide useful update for faunal analysis otifera have been reported from inland fresh- of the taxon off insular freshwaters of these islands waters from distant parts of India since the located in the Andaman Sea. Rfirst faunal survey of Anderson (1889) but these metazoans were firstly documented from MATERIALS AND METHODS insular freshwaters off the Indian mainland by Sharma (2017) based on samples from south This study is based on analysis of samples col- Andaman collected during January 1990. Realizing lected, during February 2017, from about 40 fresh- the biodiversity importance of more investigations water ecosystems (Table 1) located between 11° from insular waters, south Andaman freshwaters are 30.619’N latitude and 92° 43.432’ E longitude of revisited after a time period of 27 years to augment south Andamans, Andaman Sea, India (Fig. 1). The diversity of the taxon vis-à-vis our hypothesis on plankton and semi-planktonic samples were col- small lentic ecosystems as interesting rotifer habi- lected from varied small lentic freshwater bodies tats. The rich and diverse rotifer assemblages ob- by towing a nylobolt plankton net (# 50 µm) and served in this study merit interest for the diversity were preserved in 5% formalin. All samples were and distribution of the Indian Rotifera. An inventory screened, the rotifers were isolated and mounted in of the examined species is presented, various new Polyvinyl alcohol–lactophenol, and observed with records are illustrated and remarks are made on Leica (DM 1000) stereoscopic phase contrast _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ urn: lsid:zoobank.org:pub:712AF0D1-45CB-4E2E-9175-AA8288134A25 published: 13. November, 2017 HU ISSN 2063-1588 (online), HU ISSN 0237-5419 (print) http://dx.doi.org/10.18348/opzool.2017.2.185 Sharma et al.: Rich freshwater rotifer fauna of small lentic ecosystems of south Andaman Figure 1. Map of India indicating the Andaman & Nicobar Islands; map of the Andaman & Nicobar Islands indicating south Andaman; map (part) of south Andaman indicating the sampled area (Google map). microscope fitted with an image analyzer. The Phylum Rotifera works of Koste (1978), Segers (1995), Sharma Class Eurotatoria (1998), Sharma & Sharma (1999, 2000, 2008) Subclass Monogononta were followed for identification of the rotifer taxa. Order Ploima The micro-photographs of some interesting taxa are provided and measurements are indicated in micrometers (µm). Family Brachionidae 1. Anuraeopsis coelata De Beauchamp, 1932 * RESULTS 2. A. fissa (Gosse, 1851) 3. Brachionus angularis Gosse, 1851 Our collections from freshwaters of south 4. B. bidentatus Anderson, 1889 5. B. calyciflorus Pallas, 1766 Andaman revealed 112 species of Eurotatoria; a 6. B. caudatus Barrois & Daday, 1894 * detailed systematic list of the recorded taxa is 7. B. diversicornis (Daday, 1883) * presented below: 8. B. donneri Brehm, 1951* 186 Sharma et al.: Rich freshwater rotifer fauna of small lentic ecosystems of south Andaman 9. B. durgae Dhanapathi, 1974 * 47. L. arcula Harring, 1914 10. B. falcatus Zacharias, 1898 48. L. batillifer (Murray, 1913) 11. B. forficula Wierzejski, 1891 * 49. L. bifurca (Bryce, 1892)* 12. B. quadridentatus Hermann, 1783 50. L. bulla bulla (Gosse, 1851) 13. B. rubens Ehrenberg, 1838 L. bulla diabolica (Hauer, 1936) 14. B. urceolaris O.F. Muller, 1773 * 51. L. closterocerca (Schmarda, 1898) 15. Keratella tropica (Apstein, 1907) 52. L. curvicornis (Murray, 1913) 16. Platyias leloupi (Gillard, 1967) * 53. L. decipiens (Murray, 1913)* 17. Platyias quadricornis (Ehrenberg, 1832) 54. L. doryssa Harring, 1914* 18. Plationus patulus (O.F. Müller, 1786) 55. L. elegans Harring, 1914* 56. L. flexilis (Gosse, 1886) Family Epiphanidae 57. L. furcata (Murray, 1913) 58. L. haliclysta Harring & Myers, 1926* 19. Epiphanes brachionus (Ehrenberg, 1837) 59. L. hamata (Stokes, 1896) 60. L. hastata (Murray, 1913)* Family Euchlanidae 61. L. hornemanni (Ehrenberg, 1834)* 62. L. inermis (Bryce, 1892)* 20. Beauchampiella eudactylota (Gosse, 1886) 63. L. inopinata Harring & Myers, 1926 21. Euchlanis dilatata Ehrenberg, 1832 64. L. lateralis Sharma, 1978 22. Dipleuchlanis propatula (Gosse, 1886) 65. L. leontina (Turner, 1892) 23. Tripleuchlanis plicata (Levander, 1894) 66. L. ludwigii (Eckstein, 1883)* 67. L. luna (O.F .Müller, 1776) Family Mytilinidae 68. L. lunaris (Ehrenberg, 1832)* 24. Lophocharis salpina (Ehrenberg, 1834) * 69. L. monostyla (Daday, 1897) 25. Mytilina acanthophora Hauer, 1938 70. L. nana (Murray, 1913)* 71. L. nitida (Murray, 1913) 26. M. bisulcata (Lucks, 1912) 72. L. obtusa (Murray, 1913)* 27. M. ventralis (Ehrenberg, 1830) 73. L. papuana (Murray, 1913) 74. L. pusilla Harring, 1914* Family Trichotriidae 75. L. pyriformis (Daday, 1905)* 28. Macrochaetus collinsi (Gosse, 1867) * 76. L. quadridentata (Ehrenberg, 1830) 29. Trichotria tetractis (Ehrenberg, 1830) 77. L. signifera (Jennings, 1896) 30. Wolga spinifera (Western, 1894) * 78. L. simonneae Segers, 1993* 79. L. stenroosi (Meissner, 1908)* Family Lepadellidae 80. L. thienemanni (Hauer, 1938) 81. L. undulata Hauer, 1938* 31. Colurella obtusa (Gosse, 1886) 82. L. unguitata (Fadeev, 1925) 32. C. uncinata (O.F. Müller, 1773) 83. L. ungulata (Gosse, 1887) 33. Lepadella acuminata (Ehrenberg, 1834) 34. L. apsida Harring, 1916 Family Notommatidae 35. L. biloba Hauer, 1938 36. L. costatoides Segers, 1992 84. Cephalodella gibba (Ehrenberg, 1830)* 37. Lepadella dactyliseta (Stenroos, 1898) * 85. C. mucronata Myers, 1924* 38. L. discoidea Segers, 1993 86. C. trigona (Rousselet, 1895)* 39. L. ovalis (O. F. Müller, 1786) Family Scaridiidae 40. L. patella (O.F. Muller, 1773) 41. L. rhomboides (Gosse, 1886) 87. Scaridium longicaudum (O.F. Müller, 1786) 42. L. triptera Ehrenberg, 1830 43. L. (Heterolepadella) apsicora Myers, 1934 Family Gastropodidae 44. L. (H.) ehrenbergi (Perty, 1850) 88. Ascomorpha ecaudis Perty, 1850* 45. L. (H.) heterostyla (Murray, 1913) Family Trichocercidae Family Lecanidae 89. Trichocerca bicristata (Gosse, 1887)* 46. Lecane aculeata (Jakubski, 1912) 90. T. bidens (Lucks, 1912)* 187 Sharma et al.: Rich freshwater rotifer fauna of small lentic ecosystems of south Andaman 91. T. cylindrica (Imhof, 1891) genera namely Ascomorpha, Cephalodella, Hex- 92. T. flagellata Hauer, 1938 arthra, Lophocharis, Macrochaetus, Pompholyx 93. T insignis (Herrick, 1885)* and Wolga, and three Eurotatoria families i.e., 94. T. longiseta (Schrank, 1802) Gastropodidae, Hexarthridae and Notommatidae 95. T. pusilla (Jennings, 1903)* are new additions. Brachionus donneri (Fig. 2A), 96. T. rattus (O.F. Müller, 1786) 97. T. ruttneri Donner, 1953* B. durgae (Fig. 2B), Lecane batillifer, L. lateralis, 98. T.